State wildlife officials seek help in sighting and logging rare birds

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking for the public’s help to find three species of rare birds during their breeding seasons.

The southeastern American kestrel, the burrowing owl and the painted bunting are rare, declining species that are often overlooked by traditional monitoring programs such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey. So Florida residents are asked to use the commission’s new Rare Bird Registry to map locations where they see these birds. The site allows the upload of photographs and additional comments. Any data submitted to the state will be used by its scientists to identify important breeding areas for these species and estimate their populations sizes.

For more information, go to www.MyFWC.com/Get-Involved and select “Citizen Science” then “Sightings” for the Rare Bird Registry link.